'Partisan troll': Legal scholar Jonathan Turley calls on Pelosi to resign
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley called for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to resign after she tore up her copy of President Trump's State of the Union address following Trump's speech.
Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and the sole witness for Republicans in Trump's impeachment trial, took issue with Pelosi's failure to remain "in stone-faced neutrality" during Trump's speech and to gavel out protests by Democratic members. "She seemed to join it," Turley said in a blog post published Wednesday, calling her "little more than a partisan troll."
"If Pelosi cannot maintain the dignity and neutrality of her office at the State of the Union, she should resign," he argued in an op-ed published Wednesday by The Hill.
Turley slammed the Democrats on Twitter for their lack of composure, which he called "incredibly inappropriate" given the president's attendance as a "guest of both houses."
Trump made no mention of impeachment in his 75-minute-long speech. But his avoidance of Pelosi's handshake, which he may not have seen, before he began his remarks and Pelosi both leaving out the traditional "high privilege and honor" to introduce the president and also tearing up his speech all brought to the fore the hostilities evident between Trump and many House lawmakers.
Turley testified before the House Judiciary Committee last year that while Democrats could make a case for impeachment, they had not done so. In his remarks, Turley chided Democrats for freely declaring impeachable offenses by the president that spanned "everything from treason to conspiracy to obstruction," before "suddenly, just a few weeks ago, the House announced it would begin an impeachment inquiry and push for a final vote in just a matter of weeks." Turley appeared alongside three other witnesses, all chosen by the Democrats.
The Senate will conclude its impeachment trial on Wednesday with a likely acquittal.
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